Samuel Perez had difficulty sitting still on Thursday after a jury found him guilty of murder in the slaying of Cameron Canada.

Following the reading of the verdict, Perez grew increasingly uncomfortable taking heavy sighs as he looked at the ceiling, folded his arms and then put his hands behind his head.

As a bailiff led him out of the courtroom, the 26-year-old threw his necktie behind his back and shoved the door to the courtroom's holding cell in frustration.

His irritation grew during the punishment phase of the trial to the point that Judge Anna Perez reprimanded him.

Later, Samuel Perez maintained his innocence when he took the stand for the first time and addressed the Canada family.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your son," Samuel Perez said. "I really hope that you one day find the person who did this because I'm still saying I'm not that person."

Assistant District Attorney's Kyle Myers and Dennis Moore had earlier painted a picture that Samuel Perez stabbed Canada during a fight, started by racial slurs, outside a house party on July 22, 2012.

"Samuel Perez stabbed the life out of Cameron Canada," Moore told the jury during closing arguments.

Prosecutors also hammered home the point that either Samuel Perez or his brother yelled "Sammy just killed someone," over the phone to an officer, who answered their cousin's phone.

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But Samuel Perez told jurors and the Canada family he didn't do it.

"I was at the party, but I didn't do it," Perez told Myers during a cross-examination. "I was never involved in no altercation and I was never involved in a stabbing."

The jury also got to hear Steven Canada, Cameron Canada's father, describe the void his only son's death has created.

"I'm a proud military man, so I'm prepared for everything, but there is no preparation for my son's death," Steven Canada said. "I have pretty much given up on all hope in humanity. My wife is dying (from cancer) and my son is dead. What else is left."

The jury will go back into deliberations at 8:30 a.m. today to decided Perez' sentence. He could face 15 to 99 years in prison or life without parole.